Welcome to Spira
by Maesterlicious
Summary: * focuses on eventual baralai.kairi with eventual implied riku.rikku * The second and final in the 'Welcome to...' series. Sora, Riku and Kairi find themselves in Spira, but separated. Now they must rely on the help of others in Spira to reunite.
1. Prologue

_Alright. Yes, in the summary of this story, it mentions being the second in the 'Welcome to...' series, but in all honesty, I never expected there to be more than one. I should probably go work on the other one, though._

_I figured the title would fit because either way you look at it, it's a KH/FFX crossover. And personally, I hate crossovers, but these pairings aren't possible in canon without doing this sort of thing. And there's no way I could pull off an AU with them. If you don't like it, don't read it._

_Just a few notes, though: this is set one year after KH2 and two years after FFX-2. It's important that you know that later on in the story, trust me. And the Baralai/Kairi pairing was inspired by a roleplay I'm in. The two were friends for the most part in it, but the Baralai player agreed to help me when I needed it (since she liked the idea of the fic), so you could say this is co-written by her. Certain parts of it, anyway. And Riku/Rikku is also inspired by that same roleplay, however they were just friends as well. And what about Sora? Well... he's not going to be that lucky. Sorry guys._

_Anyway, onto the story!_

* * *

"Baralai, sir!"

"What is it, Isaaru?"

"Come with me, you need to see this."

The sky was a beautiful tint of orange, and a few birds were flying overhead, chirping and singing their joys and praises before heading to their nests to rest before nightfall. People were doing the same, bustling about the intricately patterned marble road, doing their last minute errands before turning in for the night.

But that wasn't what the redheaded ex-Summoner wanted the Praetor to see. No, it was what was lying on that road to Bevelle's temple, surrounded by a few concerned residents, and seeing it there caused Baralai to give Isaaru a look of concern before he politely asked the bystanders to move aside. "Go on and ready a place to keep her," he commanded once he saw exactly what it was.

"But the only place is your room."

"Then that's where she'll stay."

"Baral—"

"Go on. I think I can handle sleeping on the floor."

"… Very well."

The conversation was what woke the girl, and she slowly opened her bleary eyes. She moved her head a little to see… she wasn't sure what she saw—her first thought was a tree. A moss-covered tree with brown fall leaves and snow, but a tree nonetheless. Sighing, the girl slowly blinked, trying to recover her vision, but she noticed she was still tired. Looking around a bit more, she found that there were more 'trees', but they were like those birch trees she heard so much about. Except they didn't have green leaves. Was it autumn on the islands?

No, it couldn't have been. She was in the Gummi ship the last time she remembered, and … what happened after that? They started coming close to another world, but just when they were about to make a turn to stay away from it… Right. Riku had said that the gravitational pull was stronger than many of the other worlds, and they had gotten stuck in it.

Riku… The girl sat up quickly, her red hair jerking forward, and then lightly hitting her face "Sora! Riku!" She soon regretted that action, and she held her head in her hands, drawing her knees to her chest and closing her eyes tightly to try to fight off the oncoming headache as well as she could. She felt herself being picked up and she gasped, panicking and pushing herself away from the offending 'tree'. "Let me go!" she cried, hitting _whatever_ it was that had her as hard as she could.

"Shh, calm down. You're safe, I promise."

Hearing the male voice, how soft and calming it was, made her stop and look up at who spoke. Her eyes focused finally, and she blinked a few times, her first sights going to his hair and skin color and her thoughts moving towards Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas until she looked in his eyes. They weren't that piercing amber that could practically see into her soul. Instead, they were a warm, almost soothing brown. She sighed and rested her head against the man's chest, her eyes closing and consciousness slipping.

* * *

The girl awoke again in a large room, bookcases lining the walls and a few chairs nearby the window across the room with forest green draperies, gently decorated with soft, warm golds, reds and oranges. It was nice because while normally bright colors, they just remained warm, not really straining her eyes. Then again, the only light in the room was the pale blues, pinks and purples coming from outside. Turning on her side to face the door, she took note of the green sheets, the exact same shade as the draperies. The whole room vaguely reminded her of looking at a sunset through the cover of a forest.

Closing her eyes, she snuggled into the warm covers, smiling just a little at how comfortable the bed was. That was when she heard him walk in—the man that she thought had been one of her enemies at first—and she opened her eyes a little. He didn't seem to notice that she was awake yet as he walked over to the window and stood, looking out at the people below who were showing signs of moving about and starting their early day. "Who are you?" he asked loud enough for her to hear. So he _did_ know she was awake.

She slowly sat up, crossed her legs, held her hands in her lap and looked down at them. "Kairi," she answered softly.

"Where are you from?"

She sighed; this was going to be hard. "Destiny Islands."

He turned around to look at her, a slightly confused look on his face. "Where?"

"Destiny Islands. It's… a different world."

He gave her a slightly skeptical look before slowly walking towards her. "A different… world."

Kairi nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around underneath her thighs. "It's hard to explain, sir—"

"Call me Baralai," he cut in, a gentle smile on his face as he bowed and performed an action that _she_ knew as the blitzball victory sign. At least, that's what Tidus and Wakka dubbed it. She nodded again and said the name to herself softly, trying it out in her own voice and looking him in slight confusion. "Well, before you explain, I'm sure you have a few questions for me, hm?"

Kairi gave a little smile and straightened out her legs before turning and letting them hang over the edge of the bed, keeping her hands resting under her thighs—she'd ask about the sign later, considering there were more important things to know. "Well, since you answered who you are… where am I?"

"You're in Bevelle. Well, Spira, if you want to talk about worlds," Baralai answered, holding his arms out beside him when he mentioned Spira.

Kairi nodded, looking at her knees as she thought. She could always ask him the specifics later, she supposed. "So, this is your room then," she stated as she looked up at him. Seeing him nod, she smiled and decided to try to loosen things up. "Then what in the worlds am I doing in your bed?" she asked, a devious tone in her voice.

Baralai looked shocked and flustered, and Kairi couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't meant for him to take her so seriously, really. "Just kidding," she chimed, flashing him a grin.

He looked at her for a moment before shaking his head slightly, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "Shall we take a walk?" he asked her as he held out his arm for her.

Kairi stood from the bed and looped her arm around his, smiling. "Am I getting the grand tour?" she asked playfully, receiving a chuckle and a nod in return.


	2. History Lesson

_Here it is--chapter one. It'll probably the most boring and the longest chapter of the story for a while, buuut if you don't know much about FFX's world or you need a refresher on the story, well, you'll find this useful. Honestly, it just covers the basics of Spira's history, culture, and legends. I'd like to thank my own attention span during the games as well as Final Fantasy Wikia for help on this chapter. Because really, who would willingly remember the order of which Summoners defeated Sin other than Yunalesca, Braska and Yuna?_

_Exactly._

_And of course, I thank my favorite little Baralai player (who's actually older than me, whut)--some of the dialogue is taken from a log we did together once, but I fixed it so it'd be more story format than roleplay format._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Kairi was amazed as she stood at the edge of the walkway and looked below. It intrigued her about how the walkway could keep itself stabilized over the water like that, considering that she couldn't see any support beams. Just the construction of the place was enough to amaze her. The red was a little overbearing she had to admit, but at least it was somewhat balanced out by the blues, purples and yellows. And with the sunrise, those colors seemed to stand out even more, which gave it an ethereal glow.

"Bevelle is at the heart of Spira." Baralai's voice broke through Kairi's concentration and she wobbled a bit on the edge of the path, but she managed to regain her balance before turning around and taking a few steps towards him. "This place was very important to Spira's history. It seems that Bevelle was even at the heart of that, as well."

Kairi tilted her head in curiosity as she looked around at the structure that loomed ahead of them. "That is the temple," he said, noticing where her gaze had traveled. "In the day when Summoners were still needed to defeat Sin, that is where they would pray to the Fayth and receive the Aeon of the temple. There are temples all over Spira where Summoners could do this, though in order to complete their Pilgrimage and defeat Sin, they needed to gather all of the Aeons from the major temples. They were here, on Besaid, in Kilika, in Macalania, and in Djose."

She couldn't help but stare at Baralai blankly, hardly understanding a word he had said. "You really _aren't_ from here, are you?" he asked, a look of very slight disbelief on his face.

She shook her head. "I wasn't kidding when I said that, I can promise you." She sighed as she looked away and down the marble path that she noticed eventually lead to a forest. "I'm just a traveler of worlds now, like my best friends."

"Sora and Riku?" he asked, remembering her calling for them when she first woke up on that very path she was looking down.

Kairi nodded. She'd have to find them eventually, and if she knew them, they were probably as lost in this new world as she was. And if they were separated from each other, then chances were they'd want to go out and find each other and her—until they heard about how big Spira was. "Come," he called, walking towards her and holding out his hand with a smile. "We have a walk to take, remember?"

Seeing his smile as she turned around, she smiled in return and started walking in step with him. She tried to think about something to ask him before he asked her anything; the more she knew about Spira before she left, the better. But he beat her to the question asking. "What are your islands like?"

Kairi's smile brightened. "They're beautiful. There's always a warm breeze and the ocean is always just right to swim in. They're just… perfect. And watching Selphie flirt with Tidus is pretty funny; since it's obvious he's not interested. He and Wakka play blitzball all the time and you know, they always try to get Selphie and I to play, but I don't think I could. I can hold my breath about as long as they can and I love the water, but I'm not really one for playing sports."

She hadn't been looking at Baralai the whole time, but when she paused and looked at him, he seemed confused beyond belief. "Baralai, what's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. I just think I misheard you quite a bit." He paused to smile. "But we do have an island here in Spira that might suit your tastes. Besaid Island sounds like it'd be nearly home to you."

Tilting her head to the side a little, she frowned a bit, ignoring most of what he said. "What do you mean you misheard?"

"It's nothing," he replied. "I just could've sworn you said Tidus, Wakka and blitzball."

Kairi grinned and straightened. "That's because I did, silly."

"I was afraid of that."

"Why?"

Baralai sighed. "Because Tidus and Wakka live here in Spira. And they play blitzball. Or, well, they used to."

Kairi frowned again. "That's impossible. There can only be one Tidus and Wakka… right?"

He shook his head. "Obviously not, if what you're saying is true."

Pausing, she thought for a moment. "And you said you had blitzball here, right?" she asked, still confused. He nodded and she smiled just a little. "You do know that what you did back there, when you told me your name, is the victory sign for it, right?"

"I think, perhaps, at one time or another, it _was_ a victory sign for blitzball," Baralai replied, nodding. "How it came to be a sort of blessing is beyond me. But yes, blitzball is a very large part of the culture of Spira. Was it the same where you came from?"

The redhead laughed at that. "Yes and no, I guess." She paused and took a deep breath, getting ready to explain a bit. "See, our world actually only consisted of Destiny Islands. There are other worlds that could be traveled to, like Twilight Town and Radiant Garden. Sora and Riku would know more about that than I would. I've only been to four other worlds other than the islands; they've been to a lot more, since this is really my first trip with them. But I guess you could say that blitzball was a big thing on the islands. This is the first time I've heard of it being something big on any other world."

At the explanation he'd received of Kairi's home, he looked a little more than confused at the mention of the different worlds again. Other worlds? Of course, there was _almost_ something like that in Spira. That is, if you got so technical as to call the Farplane another world. "Hm… I see. I'll be sure to inquire about that later. It all sounds strangely… interesting."

She nodded, folding her hands behind her back. "Yeah, nobody was supposed to know about there being different worlds, though. It was all supposed to be kept a secret from everyone, and only the King, his servants, and the Keyblade wielders were supposed to know. It's our job to travel around the worlds and get rid of the Heartless there, and seal the keyhole that opens the paths to the other worlds." Kairi almost giggled to herself after she stopped speaking; there was no doubt she'd have to explain a lot just from that.

Now there was something to be even more confused about apparently. And it wasn't hard to tell from the new expression he was wearing. "Key…blade?" Cocking his head to the side, he looked down at the young girl and just shook his head. "Perhaps we both have a bit of explaining to do."

And she couldn't help but grin, knowing that her assumption was right. "It looks like we do. A Keyblade is... pretty much what it is. It's a blade that looks like a key. In most cases, anyway. Riku's looks nothing like a key at all, and mine... resembles it. I know Sora has a lot of key chains for his Keyblade. Each one changes what it looks like." Kairi smiled. "Do you want to see mine?"

"Mn, I see. This… Keyblade sounds interesting. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to."

Kairi stopped, held out her hand in front of her and closed her eyes. She concentrated deeply on summoning her Keyblade and grinned when she soon felt the cold steel in her hand. Opening her eyes, she spun it around in her hand once and held it out to show Baralai.

Seeing Kairi just summon her Keyblade out of nowhere left him staring in slight awe. It was almost like Summoning; only she wasn't calling upon the Fayth and summoning an Aeon. But in his mind, it was the same principle, really. And that seemed to pique his curiosity even further. He didn't take it from her, however. Instead, he merely studied it and its design.

"They don't all look this girly, though," she explained, a bit of an embarrassed smile and a slight blush on her face. "Here, wait. I'll show you Oathkeeper, too." She dropped her right arm to her side and held up her left one, concentrating again. When she felt the handle in her hand, she clumsily spun it around as she had before and held it out for him. "Here it is. You can kind of see how it resembles a key at the end. See it?" She lifted up the first Keyblade to tap the end of the Oathkeeper to show.

He simply then studied how the two Keyblades differed. In the back of his mind, he thought maybe Gippal would have liked to see these, too. Granted they weren't whirring and cranking and whatever else machina did. But they were interesting nonetheless.

"There's no way I'd be able to fight with both of these, though. I'm lucky I can do anything with just one," she finished, squeezing both of her hands and sending the Keyblades away and walking again. "Now, I think it's my turn to ask questions again, right?"

Baralai nodded as he started walking as well, falling once again in step with Kairi. "Ask away."

Thinking back on what he had said about the temple, she tried to think of a good place to start with as she looked up at the temple. "Okay, I guess the first place to start would be… what is Sin?" All she could think of when she heard the word 'sin' was the seven sins. She was curious about what exactly it was here in Spira.

He nodded and prepared himself for a long explanation. "Sin was a beast that threatened Spira. It was given the name by the people of Spira who believed that the beast was created by the sins of our forefathers due to their use of technology and Machina, which culminated in the Machina War between Bevelle and Zanarkand over a thousand years ago.

"It destroyed Zanarkand completely during its first rampage in Spira. Lady Yunalesca, a Summoner, was the one who stopped it with Lord Zaon. But all she did was put it to rest for a while. That time period was called the Calm. It was a time when the people of Spira could rejoice and relax until Sin returned."

Kairi took as much of that information as she could. So Sin, in a way, was like the sins she knew. Wrath was probably the sin that was committed, from the sound of it. It made sense when he mentioned the war. And she also assumed that Sin was gone by now, as well, but she figured she should ask. "And Sin is gone now?"

Baralai nodded. "Yes, thanks to Lady Yuna and her Guardians. She was actually born here in Bevelle, and her father, Lord Braska, had defeated Sin 14 years ago. Lady Yuna, however, completely rid Spira of Sin four years ago. We are now in the Eternal Calm because of her, and Spira will be forever grateful for what she's done."

She nodded, watching the ground as she put the pieces together. To rid Spira of Sin, Summoners were used. But how did they do it? Was it those Aeons that Baralai had mentioned before, whatever they were? And what was the Fayth that these Summoners had to pray to? Wasn't it dangerous to go after Sin and expect to survive? … Unless they didn't survive at all. Baralai failed to mention that little detail, but she wasn't going to press it. She was sure to find out about it later. "So the Summoners had rid Spira of Sin for a short amount of time. Were the Aeons you mentioned before used to do this?"

"Yes. The Aeons were magnificent creatures used to fight Sin and fiends, and to summon them, the Summoner had to call upon the Fayth."

"And the Fayth were…"

"They were the souls of people that willingly gave up their lives to become useful to the Summoner's cause and to help Spira. Their power allows a Summoner to coalesce the power of pyreflies to create their physical forms as Aeons."

Now things were starting to make sense to her. Somewhat. Summoners used their Aeons to fight and to bring peace to Spira. But if Sin was vanquished, then… "What's happened to the Fayth now that they're not being used for Aeons? I'm sure that Summoners aren't still summoning them now that they don't need to."

"They were free to return to the Farplane once Sin was defeated for the final time."

And now there was something else. Spira sure was complicated, Kairi thought. "The Farplane?"

"It's where the departed souls of Spira rest. Since the Fayth were departed, but remained tied to Spira due to their duties as active Fayth, they never were able to rest. However, there _were_ those who left us, but remained on Spira for other reasons, such as they hadn't accepted their death. And if those spirits didn't make it to the Farplane in time, they grew to hate and envy those of us who were still alive and they eventually became fiends. That was something else that Summoners did—they Sent those souls, guided them, to the Farplane where they could rest for eternity before they could become fiends."

So the Farplane was just another thing that was part of Spira's culture and history, she decided. "What else did the Summoners do?"

Baralai smiled at that, looking up at the temple. "They gave the people hope. And in the past, there were Summoners who were famous before they defeated Sin. Lord Gandof, for instance. He was the second Summoner to defeat Sin, bringing forth the shortest Calm, but he sealed the Qactuar roaming in the Thunder Plains in stone. He also was the first to get the idea of the lightning rod towers there in the plains. During his battle with Sin, he left a large rift in the Calm Lands, and so it became a historical place.

"Lord Ohalland was another notable one. He was the third Summoner to defeat Sin, and before that, he was a champion blitzball player who played for the Kilika Beasts. Lady Yocun, the first female Summoner to defeat Sin since Yunalesca, was well known among the Crusaders. And then there's Lord Braska. Hardly anyone had faith in him because he had married an Al Bhed. The Al Bhed shunned his wife and Lord Braska himself was cast out of the clergy once the temple found out. But he was a great Summoner, and one that won't be forgotten easily. And then of course, there's Lady Yuna. I'm sure if you stay around Spira long enough, you'll get to meet her."

He paused for a moment, smiling again as he looked back down at Kairi before starting up the stairs in front of them. "And then there are the ones who never got to defeat Sin, but were still quite notable in things that they did. One Summoner, whose story was lost to time until two years ago, was a resident of Zanarkand before it was destroyed by Sin. She was a popular songstress, and even had a special connection to Lady Yuna. Lady Lenne was quite the inspiration to us all when we needed it the most in those two years past. However, she had met a tragic end before the end of the war. Though, that may have been for the best, considering what happened to those who were left of Zanarkand before Sin destroyed it."

Kairi had listened carefully to the accomplishments of those Summoners that won against Sin and inwardly congratulated them for a job well done. Summoners really were important to Spira's history, and though they had been around for a while, she was sure that there was some young child that probably wanted to be a Summoner when they grew up, once they heard the stories. It was almost a shame that they weren't needed anymore, but she had a feeling that they'd always be honored in Spira, even long after Sin had been finally defeated.

Though what intrigued her the most was this other Summoner, Lenne. She was already a popular songstress—she had already given her people hope and joy. And she kept giving even past that? It reminded her a little of herself sometimes. If worse came to worse, she knew she'd keep giving up herself to protect her friends and what little family she had. Lenne had given up so much of her personal time and space to be a songstress and Summoner to give what she could to Spira. That was dedication she had to admit. "What sort of connection was that? Between her and Yuna, I mean."

Baralai paused again, and sighed. "Perhaps that story can be saved for another time. It's a bit complicated to explain."

Kairi's mouth formed a silent 'o', and she watched the ground as she kept walking. They eventually got up to the temple, and she stopped and stared at it, impressed by its appearance. "So this is the temple." She paused, and then turned to look at Baralai. "Can we go in?"

"Yes, but stay close. The people here are sure to wonder," he replied, moving ahead to open the door, then stepping aside to allow Kairi to go in first. She stepped in and had to blink a few times to let her eyes adjust to the lighting change, but once they did, she moved forwards towards one of the statues lining the circular area.

"These are the Summoners?" she asked, moving in front of one of the statues.

"Yes," he replied. "This is High Summoner Ohalland." He moved to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder to read the Yevon script. He then placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder and pointed to their right, closer to the door. "That is Lord Gandof, and that," he paused to gesture to the statue next to it, "is High Summoner Yocun. There by the entrance to the Cloister of Trials is High Summoner Braska," he said, pointing that one out as well. "And there is Lady Yunalesca."

Kairi frowned a bit as she noticed the absence of a statue. "What about Yuna?"

Baralai cleared his throat softly as he turned Kairi back around to look at him. "Yes, see, there's a bit of a story behind that. I'll give you the details later, but four years ago, Lady Yuna and her Guardians were seen as traitors of Yevon and the temple. Mt. Gagazet and Besaid Island are probably the only places with a statue of her at the moment. I'm currently working with the counsel about making one for her for this temple, and the other temples are working on it as well. Regardless of what she had done in the past, she was _still_ the one to vanquish Sin forever and she helped to stop the destruction of Spira once again two years ago. I feel that if she cannot be honored for defeating Sin, then she should be honored for uncovering quite a bit of Spira's history and for defeating Vegnagun."

She nodded as she listened, and though she was curious now about what had happened to have Yuna deemed a traitor, she understood anyway. Kairi turned and moved away from Ohalland's statue and walked towards the steps leading to the Cloister of Trials. "So what exactly is Yevon?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as Baralai followed her before stopping in front of the steps. "And what are the Cloister of Trials?"

"Yevon. Well, we are no longer known as Yevon anymore, due to the fact that the religion was corrupt in the past. Once Lady Yuna and her Guardians uncovered the truth behind it and what really happened in the war a thousand years ago, everyone began to lose their trust in Yevon. Their faith in it was failing when they needed it the most. It was the root of all beliefs in Spira ever since the end of the war. And after Sin's defeat, New Yevon came to be.

"A man named Trema was the one that founded it and proposed to start sphere hunting to help uncover more of Spira's history. However, once he gained enough of the spheres, he hid down in the depths of the Via Infinito. The chairman then took over, but he and his son were trying to grasp too much power, so we asked them to leave. Two years ago, I took over as Praetor of New Yevon. And the Trials were what Summoners and Guardians had to find their way through before the Summoners could pray to the Fayth. It was like a test, if you will."

Kairi smiled faintly—Yevon sounded like it had its secrets, new or old. "Yuna and her Guardians were at the center of a lot of things recently, weren't they?"

Baralai nodded, placing his hand back on Kairi's shoulder as he smiled down at her. "Yes. She was the first of a lot of things. She was the first to have more than two Guardians, she uncovered secrets that were lost to everyone else, she was the first to vanquish Sin completely, and she's exceeded the expectations of many. I'm sure her father would be proud if he could see her now."

She tilted her head to the side, unintentionally moving from under his hand and she looked at him, slightly confused. "What happened to her father?"

Again, Baralai cleared his throat and he looked towards the statue of Lord Braska nearby, Kairi's gaze following his own. "Summoners… gave more than their time to defeat Sin. They also gave their lives, along with the life of one of their Guardians to become the Final Aeon, in order to defeat Sin. Lady Yuna found a way to defeat Sin without having to give up her life or the life of one of her Guardians. I believe it was because Yu Yevon didn't have an actual Aeon to manifest himself in so he could stay as Sin. I'm not too sure of the specifics—I wasn't there."

Kairi nodded, closing her eyes and bowing her head. She had no idea that that was why it was such a high honor to even become a Summoner. Noticing her silence, he placed a hand on her upper back, bending just a little to get her attention. "So," he started, a faint smile on his face again. "What do you think of Spira so far?"

She looked up at him with a bit of an embarrassed look on her face. "It all sounds complicated to me, but still exciting. Summoners and Sin. The war a thousand years before that caused Sin to be born. I don't even think you've scratched the surface, either."

"Well, you're right about that. Scratching the surface could take hours. Possibly even a few days. The history of Spira is a vast and somewhat complicated thing." He paused for a moment to quietly think to himself.

Kairi couldn't help but sigh when Baralai confirmed how long it would take to learn. "I was afraid of that," she muttered.

"Don't worry, I'll leave out all the really boring parts. Unless, of course, you want to know _every_ last thing there is to know. Then you're in for a full-time class."

Kairi smiled. "Maybe not _everything_, but whatever I can think of to ask, I expect it answered the best way possible," she said, a bit of a teasing lilt in her voice. She honestly didn't mind how long it took to learn everything.

"Well then, anything you ask of me shall be answered in full and complete detail to the best of my knowledge." He smiled a little more now, finally becoming at ease with this entire situation. Not to say he was uncomfortable with Kairi, but the idea of sharing his room with her… well… this was _Baralai_, after all. 'Squeaky clean, innocent, little choir boy'. Or something to that effect anyway.

Having loosened up a little, she spoke again, voicing an opinion. "Although, it seems a bit silly to me that it was born as punishment for creating Machina." Kairi quickly shied away from her statement, however. "But… that's not my place to say."

With a small smile on his face, he spoke up again; only his voice was a bit lower this time. "Between you and me, I… always thought it was rather silly, too. But when you believe in something, you follow it faithfully and tend not to question anything. At least… not aloud."

However, she smiled again when he spoke. "I think I understand that. In my world, I'm one of the seven Princesses of Heart—girls with pure hearts that are completely not shadowed by darkness—and I've always had a tendency to believe what my heart told me. I never thought I could go wrong by doing that, but… I'll admit I've had second thoughts about things, even though I never said anything about it out loud. After all, I'm only human, and humans make mistakes. It's part of living."

It was what Kairi said next that got to him. Always believe what your heart told you? Always follow it no matter what? But… people wound up dead for that. He knew that first-hand. There was a bit of a solemn look on his face now.

Kairi paused when she noticed the look on his face, and she frowned, turning to stand in front of him. "Is everything all right?"

He shook his head, forcing a smile to keep her at ease. "No, I'm fine. Let's go back. It's nearly noon and you need to eat something. And then you can answer my questions."

She smiled in return and moved around Baralai to start walking. She turned around as she walked and nearly ran into another person because she wasn't paying attention. Covering her mouth and laughing in embarrassment, she quickly apologized to the older woman and cast a glance at Baralai, giving him a silent 'hurry and help' look. His smile turned more natural and he walked over, apologizing again in Kairi's place before placing a hand on her back gently and leading her out of the temple.

* * *

Somewhere else, Riku was lost in the desert and passing the same sign that he couldn't read for the fifth time already that day, and Sora was stranded on a snow-covered mountain with huge, blue feline-esque creatures that quite frankly made him nervous to be around. This was going to be a long journey, the two of them decided, hoping that Kairi and the other were in a better situation than they were.

Kairi was definitely better off.


End file.
